Method for visual presentation of key performance indicators of a business utilizing a squarified tree map

ABSTRACT

Data representing key performance indicators of a business enterprise are displayed by computer as a squarified tree map having major nodes each of which represents a profit center of the enterprise and minor nodes each of which represents a project associated with a particular profit center. Size, color and position of each of the minor nodes within a major node and size and position of each the major nodes within the squarified tree map is specified so as to produce a visual display which is highly appealing to the visually perceptive/intuitive processes of the human mind therefore enables rapid managerial response to visually perceived, intuitively sensed deviations from selected performance criteria.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuing patent application emanating frompresently pending allowed, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/471,43620 Jun. 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention disclosed and claimed relates to a method for optimizedvisual presentation of key performance indicators of the current statusof a business enterprise which provides goods or services for profit,which said enterprise includes one or more profit centers each of whichprofit centers has a plurality of discrete projects. In such business itis highly advantageous to regularly monitor the current status of saidprofit centers and projects, in relation to other parts or the whole ofthe business, to ascertain whether said profit centers and projects arecurrently on track to make a profit for the business when completed.More particularly, the invention relates to use of computer means todisplay squarified tree maps visually representing one or more levels ofhierarchal project and profit center data in a manner which particularlyappeals to the perceptive/intuitive, rather than cognitive/interpretive,process of the human mind, thus enables users, such as managers of thebusiness, to instantaneously assess the relative importance of largeamounts of business data and thereby rapidly ascertain if and wheremanagerial attention might be best focused.

2. Description of Related Art

Today, the volume and speed of data available for use by a businessmanager to make decisions has and continues to increase. Advances incomputers, networks, and modern database systems have enabled businessesto rapidly collect larger amounts of data about their operations thanever before. Unfortunately the collection of larger and larger amountsof data, with more and more speed, can result in a paradox, namely thecomplexity and speed of the data can and does slow the ability ofmanagers to read, comprehend and react to said data. In short, thevolume and speed at which data collection is currently collected andmade available can, and often does, exceed the human minds ability tocomprehend and react appropriately to the data. As volume and speed ofdata collection grows the situation (essentially, “too much for thehuman mind to rapidly comprehend and react appropriately”) may only growworse. Accordingly managers need tools to help them assess financiallyrelated business data in a meaningful, expedient manner in order toassess the relative importance of how various aspects of the businessare performing so they may more rapidly respond appropriately to saidbusiness data.

Digital computing means have been used to mitigate some of the problem.Many businesses use database software means to store financial dataconcerning their operations in an electronic, computer read format.Usually said software will have the capacity to at least somewhatorganize the data and present same in the form of a “spreadsheet”(either printed or displayed on one or more computer displays) ofalpha-numeric characters. While no doubt some organization of data andpresentation of somewhat organized data by spreadsheet of alpha-numericcharacters represents an improvement over attempting to comprehend andreact to large amounts of unorganized data presented in various forms,such means leaves much to be desired. In business of any complexity,spreadsheets of its data can be lengthy, related data can be separatedby many pages, and reading and comprehension of alpha-numeric charactersrequires utilization of the cognitive/interpretive functions of thehuman brain, which are much slower than the perceptive/intuitivefunctions of the human brain. Accordingly comprehension and appropriatereaction to data presented in the form of spreadsheet containingalpha-numeric characters can be undesirably difficult (if notimpossible) and slow.

Accordingly, in attempt to improve a users ability to comprehendfinancial data relevant to operations of a business, database programswere developed which have the capability of displaying data as lines,bars, virtual “three dimensional” blocks and/or as pie charts. Whilethese types of presentations improve the users ability to comprehend alarger amount of data, in a shorter period of time, as compared to pagesof alpha-numeric characters, they too leave room for much improvement. Aline or a bar contains only one level of hierarchal data. Use of manylines to display a second level of hierarchal data can become confusing.If substantial amount of data is to be displayed by line or bar chart achoice must be made as to either loss of resolution (if the data isdisplayed on one page there is inadequate separation of discrete datafrom display of adjacent data) or use multiple pages to display the data(and thereby at least partially lose the comparative relevance ofdiscrete data on one page from other discrete data on other pages).

Pie charts have been tried to improve ability of users to comprehend andreact to business data, but represent little, if any improvement overline and bar charts. Pie charts are effectively bar charts, presentedaround a common point rather than along a common line. Since the lengthof all the bars in a pie chart is the radius of the pie, that dimensionbecome unavailable for display of comparative relevance of discrete“slices” of the “pie”. Effectively relative size of a discrete unit ofdata becomes a portion of the circumference of a circle rather than anlength of height of a line or length of a bar and may actually be lessreadable and comprehensible than line or bar charts.

By contrast the invention disclosed and claim herein utilizes computermeans to visually display such key indications of the financial healthof a business having one or more goods or service producing profitscenters, each of which profit centers, may have one or more projects ina manner, namely that of squarified tree maps, each of which may have aplurality of major-minor (sometimes called parent-child nodes), which isparticularly well received by the near instantaneous,perceptive/intuitive processes of the human mind; thereby supportingrapid managerial decision making. In addition the nodes of the displaymay be provided with various “mouse over” or “hot linked” functionswhich change the characteristics of the display and/or reveal variouslevels of underlying hierarchal underlying data, for further analysis asmay be desired to support managerial decision making. While the use ofsquarified tree maps to present certain types of financial data (such assegments of the stock market) is known, such maps have not beenpreviously used as disclosed and claimed herein.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved means fordisplaying key information relating to the current financial health ofbusiness which provides goods or services comprised of one or moreprofit centers having one or more projects within each of said profitcenters. With more particularity, an object of the invention is toprovide a means whereby current financial health of the described kindof business may be received and processed, almost instantaneously, bymeans which is tailored to appeal to the perceptive/intuitive, ratherthan cognitive/interpretive, functions of the human mind. With greaterparticularity, an object of the invention is to provide the abovedescribed data by means which is particularly appealing to the visuallyperceptive/intuitive functions of the human mind.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a computer means forvisual presentation (display) of key performance indicators of said kindof business by means of squarified tree map, which map may contain anddisplay multiple layers of hierarchal business data arranged asmajor-minor nodes of a squarified tree map. Another object of theinvention is to optionally associate said squarified tree map withvarious computer input devices, such as mouse or keyboard, whichdesirably change the view of the data and/or allow display of underlyingdata and is overall simple, easy and efficient to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed and claimed herein relates to an process fordisplaying data representing key performance indicators of a servicebusiness having one or more profit centers, each of which profit centerhas one or more projects, in a manner that particularly appeals to thevisually-perceptive/intuitive (rather than cognitive/intellectual)processes of the human brain.

In one embodiment of the invention individual projects of the businessare displayed as a single rectangle of a squarified tree map, wherebythe business' current potential return (such as billed and un-billedtime, materials and/or expenses) on the project is represented by sizeand position attributes of the rectangle and the business' current costsattributable to the project (such as cost of labor, materials, expensesand overhead) is represented by color and intensity of color attributesof the rectangle. Accordingly current potential profitability of eachproject may be determined by visually perceptive, thus intuitive, almostinstantaneous, processes of the human mind. Inasmuch as the tree mapcontains a plurality of other projects, each of which is displayed usingsize, position, color and intensity of color attributes, the relativeimportance of one project in relation to the other projects, alsobecomes immediately apparent, thereby allowing the viewer, usually amanager of the business, to immediately focus his/her attention where itis most needed. In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the sumof the size of minor (project) nodes becomes the size of the major(profit center) nodes of the squarified tree map, also allowing theviewer to instantly determine, by visually perceptive/intuitive means,the relative importance of the various profits centers of the business.

In another embodiment of the invention the squarified tree map mayrepresent the status of accounts receivable, by arranging clients havingoutstanding invoices as parent rectangles (“client rectangles”) andoutstanding invoices to the client as sub-rectangles (“invoicerectangles”) within their respective client rectangles. In thisembodiment size of the invoice rectangles represents the size of theinvoice in terms of dollars (or other currency) and the color of saidrectangle as age of the invoice (for example, whether “current”,“overdue” and if overdue, how long overdue). In this fashion the viewermay intuitively perceive the magnitude of money that respective clientsowes the business and the currency of each invoice to said client.

In yet another embodiment of the invention it can be used to intuitivelyassess the financial performance of project or other managers of thebusiness, by utilization of a tree map that contains a selectedpopulation of managers, wherein parent rectangles of the tree maprepresent each manager (“manager rectangles”), sub-rectangles thereinrepresent projects having unbilled time, materials or expenses(“unbilled projects”), wherein the size of the sub-rectangles representsthe amount unbilled and the color of said rectangle represents how longit has been since last work has been performed on the project. In thisway the user can instantaneously assess which managers may not be timelybilling their projects and the magnitude of the problem presented.

Various other key data relevant to current “financial health” of abusiness having one or more profit centers, each of which has aplurality of projects, may be extracted and presented by computer meansas one or more squarified tree maps enabling assessment by visuallyperceptive, instantaneous, intuitive processes of the viewer, allowingthe viewer, typically a business manager, to make immediate decisions asto if, where and in what order managerial input may be best applied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains a least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application publication withcolor drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and paymentof the necessary fee.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary squarified tree map displaying current potentialprofitability of a business enterprise wherein the major nodes of saidsquarified tree map represent respective profit centers of said businessenterprise and the minor nodes of said squarified tree map representrespective projects of said respective profit centers of said businessenterprise.

FIG. 2 is the exemplary squarified tree map of FIG. 1 with an exemplarydialog box representing additional data revealed by a computer mousepointer being over (known as “mouse over” function) a minor (project)node of said FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary squarified tree map displaying accountsreceivable performance of a business enterprise wherein the major nodesof said squarified tree map represent respective clients of saidbusiness enterprise and the minor nodes of said squarified tree maprepresent respective unpaid invoices of said clients of said businessenterprise.

FIG. 4 is the exemplary squarified tree map of FIG. 3 with an exemplarydialog box representing additional data revealed by a computer mousepointer being over (known as “mouse over” function) a minor (invoice)node of said FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary squarified tree map displaying performancemanagerial performance of a business enterprise wherein the major nodesof said squarified tree map represent respective managers of saidbusiness enterprise and the minor nodes of said squarified tree maprepresent age of un-billed projects assigned to said respective managersof said business enterprise.

FIG. 6 is the exemplary squarified tree map of FIG. 5 with an exemplarydialog box representing additional data revealed by computer mousepointer being over (known as “mouse over” function) a minor (project)node of said FIG. 5.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

While the present invention will be described with reference topreferred embodiments, it will be understood by those who are skilled inthe art that various changes may be made and equivalents may besubstituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of theinvention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation or material to the teachings of the inventionwithout departing from the essential scope thereof. It is thereforeintended that the present invention not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying outthis invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments andlegal equivalents thereof which are within the scope of the appendedclaims.

The invention herein disclosed is designed for implementation usingdigital computing means, associated input, display, print means,operating software and having some form of accounting software (whichmay be various) which stores financial information of the business in amachine readable format of the corporate accounting database withdetailed transactions for discrete operational elements. These elementsare organized in a hierarchical fashion creating the multi-dimensionalstructure of the digital data. For example, in the service businesssector the database would likely contain a hierarchical structure of aninvoice directly related to a specific client and a client in-turn isrelated to specific profit center and the work breakdown structure(“WBS”) coded line items are related back to the invoice. It is thisrelated numerical complexity that causes the failure of theidentification of the key performance factors using traditionalvisualization techniques.

An object of the invention is to present a small number of keyperformance indicators by means of visually perceptive/intuitive format,namely that of squarified tree maps, wherein both the magnitude andstatus of the key performance indicators are indicated by size,position, color and intensity of color of minor (child) nodes of asquarified tree map, each of which said minor (child) nodes isassociated with a major (parent) node of said squarified tree map, thesize of which is equal to the sum of the sizes of the minor (child)nodes, thereby both magnitude and status of selected aspects of thebusiness can be immediately determined by visually perceptive/intuitiveprocesses of the human mind. Planning of the squarified tree maps to bedisplayed will preferably involve the following processes.

Determining Key Performance Indicators:

The first step in providing a method for display of current data of acomplex business (having one or more profit centers, each of which hasone or more projects associated therewith) which provides goods and/orservices for profit by means which is particularly adapted to bereceived by the visually perceptive/intuitive processes of the humanmind is to determine the key performance indicators available in theaccounting database. These indicators are often broadly defined acrossdiverse business industries and conversely are narrowly defined forspecific industry vertical markets. For example profit/loss can bestated as a broad key indicator for all profit oriented businessconcerns whereas utilization rates might be applied specifically to aservices oriented business where percentage of billed labor compared tooverall available labor is a key component in the performance of thebusiness and in this example also relates directly to profit/loss.

Extraction of Data:

Once the key performance indicators are determined, the data isprogrammatically extracted from its digital repository, for example fromthe corporate accounting relational database. This extraction processwill involve collecting all of the relevant indicator data that will beprocessed for further analysis.

Organization of Data:

Following the extraction of the key performance indicator data, discreteanalytical units are determined and separated in order to reduce thesingle larger set into one or more smaller components for furtheranalysis. At this stage of processing, the data underlying each of theindividual analytical units (which will eventually become major nodes ofa squarified tree map) are organized as individual, smaller, components(which will become minor nodes of a squarified tree map) of the unit.Each of these smaller units (minor nodes) is assigned a first numericalvalue representing the magnitude of the performance indicator and thesum of the sizes is assigned to the analytical units (major nodes). Inother words, the sum of the smaller component (minor nodes) representsthe value of the larger analytical unit and the sum of all of theanalytical units (major nodes) represents the total of the entire keyperformance indicator (the entire tree map). In addition to size, asecond numerical value for the status of the smaller units (minor nodes)is assigned to each component of the analytical unit (major nodes). Anexample of the status smaller units (minor nodes) may be over or under amonetary budget amount for a project.

In addition to size and status, additional attributes for the individualcomponents contained in the analytical units may be extracted to bedisplayed as an interactive part (for instance by way of “mouse over”,left and/or right mouse clicks, and/or key board commands) of thegraphical user display. By way of preparation for display, the finalstep in the organizational stage is to sort all of the data. Theanalytical units are first sorted according to first numerical valueassigned, from largest to smallest and then the individual componentscontained within each analytical unit are correspondingly sorted (byfirst numerical value assigned) from largest to smallest.

Presentation of the Data:

A rectangular region of a computer display screen is preferably used toprovide the visual user interface. Those skilled in the art willrecognize presentation might be accomplished by printer or various otheroutput devices capable of graphical rendition. This rectangular regionis used to graphically display each sorted analytical unit (major node)according to the magnitude of the numerical value assigned in theorganizational processing stage. Each analytical unit rectangle (majornode) is placed within the overall rectangular region by sorted size,which will typically be (but need not necessarily be) in descendingorder from upper left to lower right of the entire performance indicator(tree map). Within each analytical unit (major node) the smallerrectangular components (minor nodes) will also preferably be sorted size(which will again typically be, but need not necessarily be) from upperleft to lower right of the analytical unit (major node) in which theyreside. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other forms ofsorting may be established. For instance, when the viewer is oneaccustomed to languages which read from right to left, or vertically, itmay be preferable to sort the major and minor nodes in descending orderin a direction that user is accustomed to reading.

As each rectangular component is graphically positioned, the X and Ycoordinates (thus size of the area) of the rectangle associated witheach node is calculated based on the magnitude of the first numericalvalue assigned during the organizational stage. This produces agraphically representation with a visual component (size) of relativecomparisons between each of the analytical unit components (minor node),each analytical unit (major node) in relation to the performanceindicator (tree map).

In addition, the status value assigned to each component (minor node) ofthe analytical unit is visually represented by using a color valueassignment on the display screen. This value is calculated automaticallyfrom the overall range of deviations in the status numerical valuesusing red, green and blue tuples each having a range of individualnumerical values from 0 to 255. The perceptive visual effect of thismethodology produces a relative comparison of status deviations that canbe instantly recognized. Since people are accustomed to colors oftraffic signals, in preferred embodiment of the invention green is usedto signify “good” status, and red “bad” status. Increasingly intenseshades of red/green are used to signify larger deviation from neutralfinancial impact on the business. Accordingly, in this embodiment,large, intense green nodes would typically be used to indicate largepotential profit (or other desirable performance). By contrast red areaswould indicate potential non-profitability (or other undesirableperformance). Large, intensely red areas would indicatenon-profitability of potentially significant impact on the business,thereby possibly warranting immediate managerial input. By such displaythe financial size and intensity of problem areas of the businessenterprise can be instantaneously assessed by viewers, primarilymanagers of the business enterprise, for determination of if, when andwhere managerial actions may be required.

In addition to the size and status performance indicators the attributesassigned to the individual analytical components may be interactivelyassessable using the computer mouse or keyboard. This enables the viewerimmediate access to such further details about problem areas as he/shemight chose to review before undertaking managerial action. In apreferred embodiment of the invention as the mouse pointer moves over ananalytical component (minor node), the attribute data is displayed in apopup window providing more detailed information about the performanceindicator component (minor node). Further user interaction may beprovided by incorporating other mouse or keyboard functions to providedisplay or printing of underlying data corresponding to said indicatorcomponent (minor node). By way of example the following preferredembodiments of the invention are discussed further.

Presentation of Current Potential Profit, by Profit Centers (MajorNodes) and Projects (Minor Nodes) Performance:

With reference to FIG. 1 is seen an example of a preferred embodiment ofthe invention, wherein the tree map (of FIG. 1) represents performancestatus of a selected portion of the business. If desired the entirebusiness may be selected, thus presented.

In this embodiment of the invention, the tree map (FIG. 1) presentedwill generally include a plurality of major and minor nodes. Each majornode, indicated by the bold lines of FIG. 1 of the tree map represents a“profit center” of the business enterprise. It will be recognized thatvarious business enterprises may tailor the definition of whatconstitutes profits centers according to the particular needs of thattype of business and/or the desires of the particular user. Howeverdefined, each major node will generally have a plurality of minor nodesindicated by the fine lines of FIG. 1 representing “projects” associatedwith respective profit centers. It will be recognized that how aparticular business defines projects may vary according to the segmentof industry in which that business participates or the particular needsof the user. However defined a project should represent a discreteoperational function of the business which has potential to generateprofit or loss, generally depending on whether it is being well managed.In making such suggestion it is recognized that there are sometimescircumstances extraneous to managerial skill which may affect profit orloss. While the initial level display of the tree map (FIG. 1) does notreveal “why” a profit center or project may currently being conducted ina certain (profitable or non-profitable manner), by viewing said treemap (FIG. 1) the viewer is able to speedily determine, by visuallyperceptive/intuitive means, whether each profit center and project iscurrently operating profitably and the magnitude of the potential profitor loss of the analytical unit component (minor node) in comparison toother portions of the business, so that further investigation ofparticular profit centers and/or projects as desired may take beundertaken. Said initial display may be linked to additional data(through input device, such as computer mouse and keyboard, commands) tofacilitate investigation of “why” particular profit centers or projectsare performing as they currently are.

Preferably, in this embodiment of the invention, profit centers (majornodes, circumscribed by bold lines of FIG. 1 will generally be definedas discrete types of business that the enterprise engages in, whereasprojects (minor nodes, circumscribed by fine lines of FIG. 1) will begenerally be defined as discrete operational functions within said typesof business which have potential for profit or loss depending, at leastin substantial part, on how well such projects are managed. Thus profitcenters (circumscribed by bold lines of FIG. 1) become the sum of allprojects (circumscribed by fine lines of FIG. 1) within a type (profitcenter) of business enterprise in which the business engages. Inpreferred embodiment the overall performance of the business will be thesum of the performance of all the profit centers of the business (asindicated in exemplary form by the entirety of the tree map of FIG. 1).

In this example key indicators of the performance of each project willbe determined, extracted and organized as above. Then each project willbe displayed a discrete, unitary rectangle (minor node, circumscribed byfine lines of FIG. 1) contained within a profit center (major node,circumscribed by bold lines of FIG. 1) of a whole tree map (FIG. 1).

In this example size of the minor node (project) rectangles shouldreflect potential financial return of the business if the project isproperly managed. For example in profit center which performs serviceson a time and materials basis, size of the minor (project) node wouldpreferably be total amount of time, multiplied times the billable ratefor such time, and billable amount for materials the business hasdevoted to the project. This represents the amount the customer of thebusiness would have paid to date if all work done on the project werebilled and collected as soon as performed by the business.

Next is the color attribute of a minor node. That attribute isdetermined, in the services on time and expense basis example set forthabove, to represent current status of the profitability of the project(represented by the minor node). In said example color would bedetermined by potential financial return of the project to date (whichin this example also represents the size of the minor node) less thebusiness' costs to date (such as the business' cost of labor, materialand overhead) attributed to the project. It is thus seen that colorattribute chosen to represent satisfactory performance is seen, then thebusiness' potential return on the project to date exceeds the business'cost of performing the project to date, thus business currently has thepotential for profiting on the project (when billed and collected). Theintensity of the color attribute representing positive deviation fromneutral (neither profit or loss) represents increased potential profitat the time.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the following colorattributes are assigned each minor (project) node:

-   -   Dark Green: Current billable amount of labor and materials        devoted to the project greatly exceeds the total cost of labor,        materials and overhead currently attributable to the project.    -   Middle Shade of Green: Current billable amount of labor and        materials devoted to the project substantially exceeds the total        cost of labor, materials and overhead currently attributable to        the project.    -   Light Shade of Green: Current billable amount of labor and        materials devoted to the project slightly exceeds the total cost        of labor, materials and overhead currently attributable to the        project.    -   White or No Color: Current billable amount of labor and        materials devoted to the project is approximately equal to total        cost of labor, materials and overhead currently attributable to        the project.    -   Light Red: Cost of labor, materials and overhead currently        attributable to the project slightly exceeds current billable        amount of labor and materials devoted to the project.    -   Middle Shade of Red: Cost of labor, materials and overhead        currently attributable to the project substantially exceeds        current billable amount of labor and materials devoted to the        project.    -   Dark Red: Cost of labor, materials and overhead currently        attributable to the project greatly exceeds current billable        amount of labor and materials devoted to the project.

So encoded large, green (in the example given) minor (project) nodesbecome indicative of highly positive indicators of positive performanceof that project. On the other hand, large areas of dark red (if red ischosen to represent undesirable) minor (project) nodes are indicative ofprojects that currently show no profit for potential, but to thecontrary large potential loss to the business. Viewers of the tree mapcan thus immediately, by intuitive processes, perceive whether problemsexist and the magnitude of same in respect to other aspects of thebusiness. Similarly, since each major node of the map represents aprofit center, the areas of which is the sum of the minor (project)nodes of the tree map, problematic profit centers are similarlyimmediately identifiable.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention increased utility of thetree map is provided by various input device (computer mouse andkeyboard) functions.

Mouse-Over Functions: For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a “mouse-over”function may be assigned to each minor node. Namely, when the pointer ofa computer mouse goes over a minor (project) node, additionalinformation about that project is displayed in a “pop-up” window orotherwise. For example when the pointer passes over a minor node thefollowing additional information may be displayed in a pop-up window orotherwise:

Client: (client identifying Information)

Project Number: (number assigned to project)

Billed: (amount invoiced as of current date)

Un-billed: (billable amount not billed as of current date)

Paid: (amount paid by client as of current date)

Costs: (cost of labor, materials and overhead attributable as of currentdate)

Potential Profit: (billed and un-billed amounts less costs as of currentdate)

Cashflow: (amount paid less amount of costs as of current date)

Left Mouse-Click Functions: In a preferred embodiment of the inventioneach minor node may be associated with a hyperlink which providesadditional detail of the financial data underlying the size, position,color and color intensity attributes assigned each minor (project) node.For instance left mouse click over a minor node may open a squarifiedtree map showing only the major node (profit center) with which thatminor (project) node is associated. Alternatively, left mouse click overa minor node may open a table of all projects listing all clients,project numbers, billed, un-billed, paid, costs, potential profit,and/or cash-flow. On said table project number may have an additionalhyperlink that when left-clicked takes the user to the details of labor,material and overhead postings extracted from the accounting system. Intwo mouse clicks the user can move from broad to narrow accountingtransaction details.

Right Mouse-Click Functions: In a preferred embodiment of the inventioneach minor node may be associated a right click function which opens apop-up window having functions which either change, print or same thedisplay. Such functions may include “zoom in”, “zoom out”, “zoom tooriginal size”, “copy” or “save” functions.

Keyboard Functions: In a preferred embodiment of the invention thekeyboard may be used in conjunction with the mouse to allow the user tozoom in, zoom out and pan the chart to better see smaller nodes. Byusing keyboard operations found in most drawing software the user caneasily navigate around the tree map at various zoom levels. Forinstance:

-   -   Control Key Pressed: May display a magnifying glass which allows        the user to zoom in at that location when the left mouse button        is pressed.    -   Control Key+Shift Key Pressed: May display a magnifying glass        which allows the user to zoom in at that location when the left        mouse button is pressed.    -   Alt Key Pressed: May be used to display a hand cursor allowing        the user to left click and hold the mouse left button down to        drag the image in any direction at the current zoom level.

Those skilled in the art will recognize other functions, all of whichare intended to be comprehended by the invention herein disclosed andclaims, may be associated with Project Center by Project tree map of thecurrent invention.

Presentation of Current Accounts Receivable Performance, by RespectiveClients (Major Node) and Unpaid Invoices (Minor Node) Performance:

Referring now to FIG. 3 is seen a further way of analyzing the currentperformance of a business enterprise. This embodiment of the inventionmay be used to rapidly assess, by visually perceptive, intuitiveprocesses of the viewer, accounts receivable performance of a business.This embodiment may have particular, but not exclusive advantages when abusiness is engaged in providing “time and materials” services to acustomer. In this business segment, time and materials are regularlyrecorded in a database and invoices for services and materials renderedand/or delivered to clients. These invoices are generated using thecorporate accounting system and in doing so create accounts receivabletransactions within the accounting database. A key performance indicatorfor this example is how well the accounting department is doing incollecting the accounts receivable. The need for this key performanceindicator is self-evident in that the cash-flow of a service business isdirectly related to its ability to be paid in a timely manner. As(uncollected) accounts receivables age in time, working capital isreduced producing cash needs which are most frequently fulfilled bylines of credit at financial institutions. Poor performance in accountsreceivable activities costs business' money which drives the need toeasily measure and monitor it by managers and executives.

With the performance indicator determined, the next step is to extractthe data. For this example, extraction of the accounts receivable datacan be accomplished using a structured query language statementsubmitted to the accounting database which will return a data set ofrecords or rows containing each outstanding accounts receivables item.These rows of data have columns containing the amount of the invoice,the age in days of the invoice, the client's name as well as otherattributes to be used as part of the interactive graphical display.

Once extracted, the data is now organized into analytical units (majornode) which in this example are by respective clients. In FIG. 3 eachmajor node (each of which is associated with an individual client of thebusiness) is circumscribed by the bold lines of FIG. 3. Each client hasone or more outstanding invoices and each of which will be representedas rectangle components (minor node) within the analytical unitrectangle. In FIG. 3 each of the minor nodes (associate with anindividual invoice) is circumscribed by the fine lines of FIG. 3. By thesame extraction, organization and presentation taught above in thisembodiment of the invention the amount of each invoice determines thesize of the minor node representing that invoice and the age of eachinvoice is used to determine color and intensity of color of theindividual component (minor node) representing that invoice. The sum ofthe size of the individual analytical components (minor nodes) will betotaled and become the size of the analytical unit (major node), whichwill represent the total amount of all invoices owed to the business bythe client associated with said major node. The status performanceindicator will be assigned as the age of the invoice in days. The visualrepresentation of the status performance indicator will as above berepresented by color of each minor (invoice) node. By way of exampleonly the following colors may be used to indicate status of eachinvoice:

Dark Green: Invoice age of 0 to 30 days

Middle Shade of Green: Invoice age of 30 to 60 days

Light Green: Invoice age of 60 to 90 days

Light Red: Invoice age of 90 to 120 days

Dark Red: Invoice age greater than 120 days

Accordingly In the preferred embodiment of the invention each of theanalytical units (major nodes) represents a particular client. Eachcomponent (minor node) within an analytical unit (major node) representsan outstanding accounts receivable invoice for the client and isassociated with that analytical unit. The size of each minor nodecorrelates directly the amount of each invoice and the color correlatedto the age of the invoice. The size of each analytical unit (major node)corresponds to the total amount of invoices owed by the clientassociated with said major node. Accordingly the size and status of eachclients accounts receivables and individual invoices is instantaneouslyperceived by visually intuitive processes of the viewer.

As above, utility of the accounts receivables tree map may be enhancedby associating them with input (mouse and/or keyboard commands). Forinstance:

Mouse-Over Functions: As is shown in FIG. 4, a “mouse-over” function mayassigned to each minor node. When over a minor (invoice) node a pop-upmay be used to display the following information:

Client: (client identifying Information)

Project Number: (number assigned to project)

Invoice Number: (number assigned to the invoice represented by minornode) Invoiced

Date: (date invoice represented by minor node was generated)

Invoice Amount: (the total amount of the invoice)

Invoice Age: (the number of days since invoiced)

Left Mouse-Click Functions: In a preferred embodiment of the inventioneach major or minor node may be associated with left mouse-clickfunction which activates a hyperlink providing additional detail of thedata underlying an additional attribute assigned to each minor node,providing the means to “drill-down” into additional details for themajor or minor node. For example the mouse left click over any minor(invoice) node contained within a major (client) node may link the userdirectly to the accounting transaction deals showing all labor postingsand invoices generated.

Right Mouse-Click Functions: As described above, in a preferredembodiment of the invention the right mouse click may be used to providea popup window that contains “zoom in”, “zoom out”, “zoom to originalsize”, “copy” or “save” functions.

Keyboard Functions: As described above, in a preferred embodiment of theinvention the keyboard may be used in conjunction with the mouse toallow the user to zoom in, zoom out and pan the chart to better seesmaller nodes.

Presentation of Current Managerial Performance, by Respective Managers(Major Node) and Unbilled Projects (Minor Node) Performance:

By way of further example, performance of individual managers of thebusiness may be analyzed by the invention herein disclosed. For example,the entire performance unit (whole tree map of FIG. 5) may have majornodes which represent identities of the individual managers of segmentsof the business. In such squarified tree map each major node mayrepresent the identity of a particular manager, and each minor nodecontained therein may be used to represent discrete segments of thebusiness with that manager manages. By way of example each minor nodemay represent projects assigned to that manager which have billable, butnot yet billed labor, material or other costs. The status of each minornode may be represented by color attribute correlating to the age sincelast labor or materials was attributed to the project. By way of furtherexample, green may be selected as the color attribute representingfavorable performance and red selected as the color attributerepresenting unfavorable performance. So encoded the size of each minornode represents the amount of billable but un-billed labor and/ormaterials expended on the project, and the color of each minor nodewould represent length of time since labor and/or materials was lastexpended on the project (thus need to be recovered by the business).Hence a large, dark red node would indicate a large amount of billabletime and/or expenses that have not been billed for a substantial timesince the business last incurred costs (which need to be recovered) onthe project, thus possibly require corrective action.

As above, each minor (un-billed costs) node may be associated withpop-up (shown in FIG. 6) which displays:

Client: (client identifying Information)

Project Number: (number assigned to project)

Manager: (manager identifying information)

Billed: (amount invoiced as of current date)

Un-billed: (billable amount not billed as of current date)

Paid: (amount paid by client as of current date)

Costs: (cost of labor, materials and overhead attributable as of currentdate)

Cashflow: (amount paid less amount of costs as of current date)

Age of Unbilled: (number of days since cost were last posted to theproject)

Left Mouse-Click Functions: In a preferred embodiment of the inventioneach minor node may be associated with left mouse-click function whichactivates opens a display to the accounting transactions details historyunderlying the analytical unit component (minor node).

Right Mouse-Click Functions: As described above, in a preferredembodiment of the invention the right mouse click may be used to providea popup window that contains “zoom in”, “zoom out”, “zoom to originalsize”, “copy” or “save” functions.

Keyboard Functions: As described above, in a preferred embodiment of theinvention the keyboard may be used in conjunction with the mouse toallow the user to zoom in, zoom out and pan the chart to better seesmaller nodes.

The invention herein disclosed thus represents a new method visualizingbusiness performance indicators. Using the human visual perceptivesystem, complex multi-dimensional data is intuitively understood withthe most relevant or important information being instantly recognized.

While the above description contains certain specifics, these should notbe construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather asan exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention should be determined not by theembodiment(s) illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legalequivalents.

1. A method, using a computer means, for displaying key performanceindicators relating to the current performance of a business enterprisehaving a plurality of profit centers, each of which profit centers has aplurality of projects, comprising the steps of: a. determining keyperformance indicators which are representative of the current status ofsaid business enterprise; b. using a computer means to extract datawhich is representative of said key performance indicators from anaccounting database containing said data; c. using a computer means toorganize said extracted data into a plurality of discrete analyticalunits, each of which said discrete analytical units is representative ofa project associated with a profit center of said business enterprise;d. for each of said discrete analytical units using a computer means toassign a first value which is representative of the magnitude of thepotential financial impact of that discrete analytical unit upon thefinancial well-being of the business enterprise; e. for each of saiddiscrete analytical units using a computer means to assign a secondvalue which is representative of a deviation of the performance of thatdiscrete analytical unit from a selected performance for that discreteanalytical unit; f. for each of said discrete analytical units using acomputer means to generate a minor node of a squarified tree map whichhas an area that is proportional to said first value assigned to saiddiscrete analytical unit; g. for each of said profit centers using acomputer means to generate a major node of a squarified tree map whichhas an area comprising the sum of the areas of minor nodes of thediscrete analytical units associated with that a profit center; h. usinga computer means to generate a squarified tree map having an areacomprising the sum of areas of said major nodes; i. for each of saidminor nodes using a computer means to assign a color which correlates tothe second value assigned to the discrete analytical unit associatedwith that minor node; j. using a computer means to generate a visualdisplay of said squarified tree map, said major nodes and said minornodes, wherein the visual display of each of said major nodes ispositioned within the visual display of said squarified tree map bydescending order of size from a selected corner of said visual displayof said squarified tree map to the corner of the visual display of saidsquarified tree map which is disposed diagonally opposite from saidselected corner of said visual display of said squarified tree map andeach of said minor nodes is positioned within the visual display of themajor node with which it is associated by descending order of size froma selected corner of said visual display of said major node to thecorner of the visual display of said major node which is disposeddiagonally opposite from said selected corner of said visual display ofsaid major node.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the majornodes of said squarified tree map is associated with a respective profitcenter of said business enterprise.
 3. The method of claim 2 whereineach of said minor nodes is associated with a respective project of aprofit center of said business enterprise.
 4. The method of claim 3wherein the size of the visual display of each of said minor nodesrepresents the magnitude of the potential impact of a key performanceindicator upon a project of a profit center of said business enterprise.5. The method of claim 4 wherein the color assigned each of said minornodes represents the potential variance of said key performanceindicator from selected criteria.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein saidkey performance indicator represents the potential profit to be derivedfrom a project of a profit center of said business enterprise.
 7. Themethod of claim 6 wherein the size of the visual display of said minornode represents the magnitude of the potential profit to be derived fromsaid project of said profit center of said business enterprise.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the color of the visual display of said minornode represents the potential variance of the potential profit to bederived from said project of said profit center of said businessenterprise.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the major nodes ofsaid squarified tree map is associated with a respective client of saidbusiness.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of minor nodes isassociated with an invoice of the business enterprise to said client.11. The method of claim 10 wherein the size of the visual display ofeach of said minor nodes represents the magnitude of each of saidinvoices.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the color of the visualdisplay of each of said minor nodes represents the age of each of saidinvoices.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the major nodes ofsaid squarified tree map is associated with a manager a portion of saidbusiness enterprise.
 14. The method of claim 9 wherein each of minornodes is associated with an invoice of the portion of the businessenterprise associated with said manager.
 15. The method of claim 14wherein the size of the visual display of each of said minor nodesrepresents the magnitude of each of said invoices.
 16. The method ofclaim 15 wherein the color of the visual display of each of said minornodes represents the age of each of said invoices.